Conventional brakes for bicycles include, for example, a center-pull caliper brake as disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Utility Model Publication SHO 63-193127. This brake comprises a pair of brake arms movable toward or away from each other and each having a brake shoe at its lower end, an arm bracket attachable to the body of a bicycle and supporting the brake arms thereon, and return springs for always biasing the respective brake arms away from each other to move the brake shoes away from each other. Each of the brake arms has a boss portion formed with a spring accommodating cavity around a pivot, and the return spring is provided around the pivot and accommodated in the cavity. The return spring has one end engaged with the boss portion of the brake arm and the other end engaged with an adjusting member which is mounted by a ratchet sleeve on the pivot. A ratchet pawl provided on the adjusting member is opposed to and engageable with a ratchet portion of the ratchet sleeve. Accordingly, the biasing force of the return spring is adjustable by rotating the adjusting member to thereby properly position the brake shoe relative to the wheel rim. Thus, the brake shoes are adapted to give a uniform shoe clearance.
With the conventional brake described above, the ratchet pawl and a coiled spring for biasing the pawl toward the rachet portion are incorporated in the adjusting member, which therefore has an increased thickness, projects from the brake arm a large amount, appears unsightly and has the problem that the rider is unable to recognize the amount of adjustment from outside.
An object of the present invention, which has been accomplished in view of the above situation, is to provide a brake for use in bicycles which is minimized in the length of forward projection from the brake arm to give a neat appearance and which enables the rider to recognize the state to which the biasing force of the spring is adjusted.